I thought the whole point of fixed gear bikes on the street was the 'zen' simplicity of these bikes, with style often another important consideration. Montague pretty clearly fails here, but according to Montague the Boston fills another requirement: that for bike storage in an urban environment.
“The idea for the Boston was conceived when examined how people use their bikes in an urban environment,” says product manager Jonathan Vandenberg. “We found that while the concept of a low maintenance, 700c, single speed was ideal for city riding, it clashed with the severe lack of space that most cities suffer. Let's face it; it’s often hard to find secure outdoor parking for your bike, and who realistically has room in their studio apartment to accommodate a bike? The Boston's standard full-size geometry allows you to ride comfortably all day long, and when you reach your destination, you can fold the bike down to take it inside.”
So what do you think? Fixed gear fail? A nice try? Or a great product that will do well?
More about the Montague Boston here.
Bike Friday has been doing fixed gear folding bikes for several years now, and they look really sharp IMO.
Update: Rycera built up a singlespeed full sized folder a while back.
8 comments:
That would be a good bike to use in combination with BART. Folds in half so always allowed on the train; not much complexity or chain dangle to mess up the pants; and good looking too!
Grego, that's an excellent point and probably more important than the storage benefit that Montague highlights.
...i was gonna suggest "niche bike" but ya, grego does make a good point...
...plus, so much of the cycling industry these days appeals to various niches...
Good sign if the industry starts doing niches, but to me it compromises the simplicity of fixiedom and doesnt' fold up *that* small.
It's cute, though -- and if it's *easy* to fold then yea, it's on the train we go!
Despite not having the clean lines a classic fixie does this is the first folder I've actually been attracted to. Hell, it looks good.
When you read their description of the bike it doesn't really sound like Montague is making any wild claims about it in comparison to a classic fixie. I'd put it as a solid competitor to the Soho S or the C'dale BadBoy.
Fritz, I think you're going to need to investigate this one while you're at Interbike. Take more pictures!
Yeah, Soho S and others is exactly the competitors this is going after. Except for the lack of cargo capacity, I would likely have snapped this up over my Soho S.
The Boston doesn't seem to be going after being a classic fixie. Their whole thing is "full-sized bikes that fold", right? So they took what they're good at and created a single speed out of it, what's wrong with that? I say this is a really cool product, and folding bikes make life easier in the city.
It's worth mentioning that it comes with a flip-flop hub. I'm interested in it as a single-speed I can take on the train sometimes and bring in my (small) apartment at night.
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